Ista

Hello all, hope you're having nice weekends.

I have a question for anyone living/working/knowing the Brisbane area...my OH has a job working in QLD for a year and he has the option of a number of bases from which to work. His preference is to work at one place for six months and another for six. We've been look at the possibility of the Gold Coast (Coolangatta Airport) for six months and then six months in Brisbane.

What would make life easier for me is if we can live somewhere for the yr where I could commute to Brisbane and work and OH could commute to Gold Coast for six months then Brisbane for six. OH will have a car but would prefer not to be in it for more than an hour each way. I'll be taking the buses or whatever other public transport there is.

Is this possible? Are there particular suburbs you would recommend?

Thanks in advance, guys!

fish.01

I would live in the southern suburbs of Brisbane because:
- driving to the Gold Coast is probably lighter traffic than driving to Brisbane so pays to be closer to Brisbane.
- you could obviously commute on public transport from southern suburbs of Brisbane into Brisbane CBD a lot easier than from the Gold Coast. Though there is a crowded train that you can get from the Gold Coast.

Parts of Wishart, Upper Mt Gravatt, Eight Mile Plains area will see a < 30 min bus commute to Brisbane CBD for you and easy access to the M1 heading south to Gold Coast and the M3 north to Brisbane or M1 north to Brisbane Airport for him.

If you want a low maintenance lifestyle to start with I have noticed apartment living behind "The Village" at Upper Mt Gravatt which puts you near an express, separated busway straight into the city (<20 mins) and a large shopping mall (Garden City) and restaurants etc. It is a busy area with lots of traffic on the surrounding suburban thoroughfares but that you may prefer that to pure suburbia?

If you want to go further south you could look at Cornubia area but I imagine the buses take a fair while to get into Brisbane from there. Springwood, Daisy Hill area might be a compromise.

Ista

Hi Fish.01, thanks for this, really helpful! I had singled out Eight Mile Plains from staring at google maps for a few hours and also looking at the bus system as there seems to be a lot of buses going into the CBD from that area. I haven't looked at Upper Mt Gravatt so will do that now - very much like the idea of "The Village", that sounds like what we would be after. Not a big fan of traffic but currently living on a pretty busy through-road in London so anything will be quiet compared to this I'd imagine! ;-)

I can see that the journey down to Gold Coast would be pretty easy for OH so that looks like a strong possibility. Thanks again for your help.

4500 Times

Hi

We live in Shailer Park and drove down the Gold Coast on Saturday, its about a hours drive to Coolloongatta airport and about 30 mins drive to Brisbane Airport from home.
Obviously a lot depends on the time of your journeys but the commute to Gold coast would be easier (less traffic) although longer.

We can catch a bus from the Hyperdome into the city, would imagine it takes about a hour !!

Let me know if ya need to know more.

Ista

Hiya, thanks for the info! What is Shailer Park like? Sorry, I haven't been to Brisbane in yrs so am coming into this a litle bit clueless! ;-)

4500 Times

We enjoy living there, its got good links to the city or GC, plenty of retail and good schools.

Its a bit hilly so depending on where your home is you get a bit of breeze, and also its good if you enjoy keeping fit, up ad down the hills.....

There are some lovely parks and communal areas......and i think you get more for your money than living say on the Bayside..

katietops01

Hi, I live in Helensvale and work in Eight Mile Plains, so can tell you about the journey from there to the GC. With absolutely no traffic on the road, the journey can be done in 30-35 minutes. Coolangatta airport is a further 25-30 minutes, again with no traffic. So, for OH, the trip would be around an hour at best, depending on what time he left.

I worked in the city for a few months last year, getting the train from Helensvale, which took about an hour and ten minutes. This was also about the last station that you could get a seat on the 6:35 train.

calNgary

Its a shame you have to commute to Brisbane as the Coolangatta area down to the border is in my opinion one of the best areas in QLD. Not full of tourists like some parts of the GC, many beautiful beaches, great ammenities,good schools, stunning green hinterlands only a short drive away and reasonable property costs.

Your hubby is very lucky to have the choice to work there or not, i know my hubby would sell up and move to Cooly tomorrow,lol

Good Luck with everything

Cal x

DeadVim

Second that as a location ... we were looking out there a few years ago but decided somewhere more rural would suit so we are out Buccan way.

You don't have to go far to get a few acres if that is what you want.

Places like Wolffdene are very nice too ... ignore the Southside Naysayers, they know nowt

asprilla

hi Ista,

what job is your OH doing? You say that he has choices of where to base himself.... does he have any other options apart from the two you mentioned ?

cheers

DeadVim

Just read the thing about public transport, you'll not be wanting to be out in the sticks then ... I think we get 2 services, one to the Hyperdome and one back.

Shailer Park is OK though, especially the bits that border the greenery.

Ista

Katietop01 - thanks! Really useful to know, I was actually look at Helensvale but was concerned about the train as have heard it's quite busy! 1hr10m isn't so bad though. However, the journey for OH down to the airport is a bit worse than I had hoped...so we may need to rethink this strategy! Thanks for your help.

Hi Cal - wow, the Coolangatta area sounds gorgeous (love its name!), if it wasn't for me wanting to find a job, I would definitely look at moving there! Maybe we'll have to do that if the commute for both of us won't work out. ;-) Thanks for your comment.

Ista

Hi Asprilla, OH is a doctor and he'll be working on the helicopter emergency service in QLD - they have more bases than just at Brisbane and GC...I know they've got one in Mackay, Cairns and Townsville - and some others places I think!

Our original plan was to go to Mackay for six months but that was when I was supposed to have some uni modules to do which have now fallen through, so I'd prefer to get a job and am worried that there won't be anything in my sector up in Mackay. However, I'm beginning to think it's unlikely that we'll be able to live near Brisbane as OH think he needs to be between half and hour to an hour's drive of the GC base (at the Coolangatta airport) - which limits our options a lot more than I had hoped. It looks like we may have to do 6m in Mackay and 6m in Brisbane - I don't really mind that as I think trying to make both of us happy in both Brisbane and Gold Coast may have been asking too much! And I've heard that Mackay is pretty.

Thanks!

Ista

Hiya, yes I'd prob need to use public transport as I doubt we'd get two cars - although we could always do that if worse comes to worst. Thanks.